


The Talk

by thegraeyone



Series: Stuck Between You and Me [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Established Relationship, Multi, Shovel Talk, Siblings, drowning mentions, joey has to tell his sister some news, nothing even really romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26616124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegraeyone/pseuds/thegraeyone
Summary: Joey and his sister Serenity go to lunch so he can tell her about a recent... change in his relationships. She's not going to be happy.Really an excuse to write some sibling interactions and play with my Serenity Wheeler headcanons.
Relationships: Honda Hiroto | Tristan Taylor/Kawai Shizuka | Serenity Wheeler, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin
Series: Stuck Between You and Me [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559926
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	The Talk

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of Triple Play aka the path to Joey, Duke, and Seto marrying each other and adopting Rebecca. This is mostly me playing with my headcanon that Serenity hates Seto Kaiba and the inevitable fight that would come of it.
> 
> Mentions of Joey's near-drowning in Battle City, otherwise floofy and fun.

Joey tapped his phone against the table before flipping the screen up to look at his messages for the fiftieth time since arriving at the cafe. Serenity was at the counter, ordering their lunch, and he glanced her way before scrolling through. His group chats were quiet, and the last message was from ten minutes ago, Duke wishing him luck. They’d offered to come with, but Joey’d let them off the hook. Serenity was always supportive, but he knew there were some parts of this she wouldn’t want to hear, and the further they were from the blast radius, the better.

Serenity returned with two mugs of tea, and he closed his screen. She handed him the chai blend, something she’d gotten him into a few years ago. He took a deep breath of the warm scent before taking a sip. Serenity dropped down into the seat across from him, tossing her braid over her shoulder. The gaze that settled on him was calculating.

“So,” she said, picking up her own mug. “What’s going on?”

“Great and how are you,” he chirped back. “You forget to how to have a conversation?”

“You called me,” she said. “You said you had news. I’m just assuming it’s bad.”

“Why do you gotta assume that?” he whined.

“Because you’re my brother, and I love you, but you make the worst decisions sometimes.” She sipped her drink. “Is it bad? Duke wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Yeah, well.” He curled his hands around his mug, resting it on the table. “I wanted to tell you myself. Something’s, uh, changed with me and Duke.”

Her eyes widened. “No. What? Tell me right now.”

Joey scraped his teeth over his lip. He hadn’t expected to blurt it right out, but was there any other way to bring it up? “We, uh… We’re dating somebody.”

He watched the ripple of emotions on her face. Serenity reacted to the actual words he said and then their meaning, confusion, curiosity, and a barely stifled concern that usually came from their life changing chats. She was reserving judgement, he knew.

“You’re…” She tilted her head in a question. “I didn’t know either of you were poly or whatever.”

“It’s new,” he muttered.

“This is, like, for real though?” She shook her head. “Sorry, it just seems sudden.”

“We’ve been seeing him for a while,” he admitted. “Not officially or anything, but recently it--it didn’t change, but it felt real, you know? Duke and I talked about it, and now we’re going on dates.”

“Okay.” She sat back, tapping a finger against her mug. “How’s it working out?”

“Good.” Joey let the word out in a breath. It was the honest answer. “It’s all really unexpected, but it also feels really easy somehow? Like when me and Duke first got together. And we’ve already been hanging out, so it’s, like--it’s good.”

“Well, then, good,” Serenity said. “You know I always worry about you two. But you’ve been solid for a long time now.”

Joey’s shoulders eased at her approval. “It feels that way. I’ve never been comfortable in a relationship before.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “That’s a fact. And you still are, right? Now that you’ve got a new player in the mix. Who is it anyway? Anyone I know?”

He sucked in a breath. Now for the hard part. “Uh, yeah. It’s, um. It’s Seto Kaiba.”

Serenity’s face fell, and her eyes went wide. Their lunch order was called by the checkout, and neither of them moved.

“I’m sorry,” she said slowly. “Did you say Seto Kaiba?”

Joey leaned nervously back. “Yeah, but look--”

“ _ Seto Kaiba _ ?” she snapped. Her cheeks puffed up in anger. “Seto  _ freaking _ Kaiba!”

He winced. “I knew you’d get mad.”

“You,” she said accusingly and grabbed her phone. “You are not--why--what  _ possessed  _ you. I’m so-- _ ugh _ .”

Her fingers tapped furiously against the glass. Joey puffed out a breath and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Calling Duke,” she said.

“Don’t. Serenity!” He reached across the table, and she immediately kicked her chair back and shoved him off. They wrestled for it, drawing attention from nearby diners, and finally she yanked the phone over her head as Joey collapsed back into his chair.

Still holding the phone over her head, Serenity kept her thumb over the call button. “You better have a good explanation for why you’re dating the guy who  _ tortured _ you in high school.”

“He didn’t torture me,” Joey said, crossing his arms.

“Oh yeah?” She counted on her hand. “He made fun of you constantly, he built a whole tournament to bully Yugi  _ which he banned you from _ , and in that tournament he denied medical care to one of your friends, followed by  _ years _ of ignoring you--”

“So he was a jerk,” Joey said. “So was Duke. Doesn’t bother you how they acted in high school. And I put guys in the hospital.”

“So?” she snapped. Her head jerked as their names were called again, and reluctantly she sunk back into her seat. “I never understood why you guys wanted to be friends with him in the first place. He never acted like he wanted to be friends with you.”

He took another breath and huffed it out when their names were called one more time. He stood, waving a hand at her as he went to grab the plates. She was furiously texting in the time it took for him to turn around. Well, he tried to save Duke from all this.

“Why him?” she demanded as he sat back down. “What do you even like about him?”

He laughed at that. “You should talk to him for five minutes. He and Duke go on the same rant about income inequality in the Batman universe. I’ve literally watched them go for hours.”

“Oh, he’s a big nerd.” She stabbed into her salad and stuffed a forkful into her mouth. “Who isn’t around here? If you two wanted a third you could’ve just hung around the hobby shop.”

He wrinkled his nose at her. “It’s not just that. He’s, like, intense, but in a good way. You know how Tristan goes all out for Valentine’s?”

“Yeah,” she muttered.

“He’s like that with romantic stuff, which is probably great for Duke since I’m fucking terrible at that stuff.” Joey smiled as he remembered how the last few months have gone, the few times they’ve been all together, hanging out at the apartment or planning nights out when they were in different cities. “Or when we spend two hours arguing stats over one card. Even when he’s annoying the shit out of me, I wanna keep going. And even when he’s pretending like he doesn’t care about something you can tell he does. It’s cute, kinda.”

Serenity groaned loudly, dropping her head down. “How did this even happen? 

“It just did.” He took a bite of his sandwich and ducked his eyes. No need to give his baby sister the gritty details.

They both quieted as they ate. Serenity picked at her meal, not quite looking at him. He knew she was working up to something, and it was easier to sit back and let her get it out. 

“You know what plays in my head all the time?” she asked as she swallowed down another bite. “Not, like, constantly, but I definitely still get nightmares over it, or it’ll just hit me in the middle of the day. It’s the moment I took my stupid wraps off after surgery, and the first thing I see is you taking a plunge into the sea.”

His hand stilled. He said, “Serenity.”

“Which is so dumb,” she continued unabated. “Because it’s not even like the most traumatic thing that happened to you during that whole thing. But I hadn’t seen you since I was nine years old, and we were finally going to get to be together, and then you were drowning in some psycho’s death trap over a stupid card game. And after your first near death experience that day, you climb into a blimp with the guy in charge of all of that, who pretty consistently tells you to go fuck yourself, and who decides after everyone else starts almost dying that this is fine, and he’s not putting a stop to it at all. And then you and Yugi and Tristan and even Tea all talk about him like he just needs a hug. And it gets really hard for me to separate that image of you almost drowning from the guy who made it all possible.”

Joey reached a hand across the table to squeeze her arm. “Serenity, listen. That’s really stupid.”

She sat straight up and glared at him. “What?”

“You might as well send Pegasus a thank you card for your new eyes,” he said. “Yeah, it’d be great if we could all blame one person for all the shit we went through back then but it’s not that easy. I notice you don’t blame the person who actually put me in that death trap.”

“Well, because--”

“Because the Ishtars do family therapy like three times a month, and you’re friends with Isis.” He shrugged. “We didn’t know half the reasons Marik was doing what he was doing at the time, and it’s the same with Seto. It sucks that happened and I didn’t know how much it affected you. I still don’t like thinking about it. But we’ve all changed from how we were back then. Duke’s proved it. I’ve proved it. Seto has too.”

She stared down at his hand, lip curled, but she gave a beleaguered sigh. “Yeah, alright. But he’s gotta prove it to me, okay? That means a family dinner.”

“No,” Joey said.

“If my brother’s going to be dating someone new I’ve got to approve of them first,” she said. “He’s gotta be on time--”

“You’re so embarrassing,” he groaned.

“--well dressed--”

“Serenit _ yyy _ .”

“--and the perfect gentleman.” She nodded soundly. “I’ll make Tristan cook. But he should bring something. A dessert, maybe.”

Joey dragged his hands down his face. “You’re so annoying.”

“And I’ll know if Duke made it,” she finished, jabbing her fork at him. “And if I don’t like one thing he says, I’m kicking him to the curb.”

“Fine,” he said. “But you also gotta be nice.”

“Oh, Joey,” she said with a laugh. “We’re Wheelers. The last thing we are is nice.”

He turned back to his plate, determinedly biting into his meal. His own phone buzzed, probably a question from Duke, but he ignored it for now. They finished their meals, and Joey felt a little relieved to be able to tell Serenity what was actually going on in his life, sharing the last few times he and Duke hung out with Seto, and she talked about the moves she and Tristan were making in their own relationship, nervously ripping at her napkin as she did but with a hopeful flutter to her voice. Finally it was time to pull on their coats, and they stood outside the cafe as Domino’s population walked by. Serenity had to get back to her office, while Joey’d promised Duke he’d stop by the store on the way home. Neither moved for a moment, and beside him, his sister took a breath.

“Are you really sure about this?” she asked and looked at him. Over the years she’d shot up in height, and Joey worried sometimes she might be half an inch taller than him. “I mean that seriously. Dating Duke’s been an uphill climb for you, and now there’s someone else to think about. Are you sure this is what you want?”

Joey’s eyes were trained up at the sky. He ran a hand through his hair in thought. “I got so scared when I realized I was falling for Duke, and don’t make that face. Anytime things are going good for us, I had this instinct to run. And now we’re here, and I don’t have those thoughts anymore. It’s not scary anymore. And if Duke’s holding my hand through it, then yeah, I’m sure.”

He risked a glance at his sister, who was staring at him with watery eyes. With a sigh, he held out his arms, and she squeezed him into a hug, and managed to lift him of his feet. In return, he hooked her head into his arm pit and gave an affectionate noogie.

“You’re so schmoopy now,” she teased, pinching his belly until he let go of her. “And I’m calling Duke immediately. Can I tell Tristan? He’s gonna flip.”

Joey pinched her back. “I guess so. Seto’s got a whole reputation to take care of, but friends and family we trust.”

“Ugh,  _ Seto _ .” She zipped up her jacket. “You’re so gross. I still hate this, you know?”

“I know.” He hugged her one last time. “We’ll make plans.”

“You better,” she warned and waved him off. Joey laughed as he watched her go before heading off himself to meet the train. No backing out of it now. And there was a time where that would’ve itched at the back of his head, but for now, as he looked at his messages from Duke and Seto, he felt pretty certain it was going to go alright.


End file.
